Monthly Archive for December, 2009

Old Week of Dec. 28th

Published on December 28, 2009 in Comics, Matt's stupid ramblings, Reviews-comics and Shop Crap. 0 Comments

**Special note on hours – We will be open from 9:00am to 10:30am New Year’s Day.  Ronnie is working New Year’s eve and has discretion to close early if he or the store is completely dead.

Holy lack of Books, Batman!!

Small shipping week, small e-mail.  I’m sorry, but as my day has gone from good to okay to bad, my desire to write a dissertation on the greatness of the comic medium dwindled with it.  First things first, let’s take a literal look at what is coming out this week (I try not to include pictures in the e-mails as I’m not sure how that will work, but here we go for a try…)

Your choices for comics this week are… limited, to say the least.

You have one option, Blackest Night #6:

blackest_night_6

That’s it.  Why, you might ask, is even this coming out?  Well, some of you might know that Geoff Johns is part owner of a comic shop in California.  I am guessing, but from what I’ve read, he himself was not over joyed to see NO comics on the week after X-Mas.  I think he gave some pressure to DC to make this happen.  I don’t like to see any week devoid of comics, but at least if we only get one book to put on the new release wall, it’s the one that is selling best!

Monkey see Marvel do will also release some stuff this week, but nothing new.  They have 2010 calendars (a limited number that will be on a first come first serve basis) and a special Origins of the Siege preview book.  Both are free.  They are also making available a very limited number of a rather cool variant cover for Fall of the Hulks Alpha:

FALLOFHULKS

Being an old collector, you obviously caught the Fall  of the Mutants homage.  I remember as a kid thinking, OH NO they are going to kill off a bunch of characters.  Oh, NO Longshot is one of them.  Sure they killed off a bunch of X-men (as a fake out) and sent them to Australia and, um… right, actually killed Warlock.  I learned a lot about comics from Mutant Massacre.  Some things don’t change in comics, deceptive covers and preview art.

Big Giant Super Colossal Sale…

We also have a hell of a big sale going on.  It started Sunday, but runs all week.  Think of it as a year end, after X-man day, no comic book release week sale.  Nearly everything in the store is on sale, except what you drink and what you would use to drink it with.  Shop logo, ceramic and travel mugs or pint and shot glasses are not on sale.

Here is a list of what we do have going this week:

  • 10% off all Trade paperbacks and hard covers
  • 30% off Toys/Action Figures
  • 20% off Bundles
  • 10% off T-Shirts
  • Magic packs are $3.00 per
  • Regular 50 centers are 25, Image, Valiant and Dark Horse are 15 cents
  • Select boxes from our Warehouse are now in da house.  They are all 50 cents.
  • Kyle and I went through our overstock.  Special long boxes at 40% off.

Even Bigger Sale on Wednesday…

Those are the sales we have going on the rest of the week.  BUT on Wednesday, it gets even bigger!  Since we aren’t going to make any money off of regular NEW issues… we better try and sell something else.  Come in on Wednesday and these are the one day only sales you will get:

  • Instead of 10% off Trades, they will be 20%!
  • The 40% off overstock box will be 50%!!
  • All of the “Not New” wall books, which will be all the other wall comics will be 10% off.

Think of it as a way to help us thin down before we have to count all this crap during inventory next weekend or maybe it’s an X-Man Day gift, just a little late, like your aunt Selma.

Happy Holiday?…

I hope you all had a happy holiday.  Mine was one of the best I’ve ever had.  I visited my wife’s family and mine on X-mas morning, but as mother’s can be, she fretted about the weather and she was probably right.  It was fairly bad out in the country on gravel roads.  So, I was able to get home a lot earlier than expected.

Because of that, I laid on the couch and read for TEN HOURS!!  Glory to excelsior-ous Stan Lee!  I got up to eat and get more beer and right back to reading.  Add in a couple of good books I have right now, it was a great x-man day.

Good reading…

So, among a few things I was able to catch up on was R.E.B.E.L.S.  Great book.  If you ever read Legion with the dots, you need to be picking this book up.  If you are a little fed up with the company wide crossover, you need to pick up this book.  Like the Abnett and Lanning stuff over at Marvel or like good old school space opera or simple, but not stupid comic book superheroics go with REBELS.

rebels1

I was more than a little cautious about it when it first came out.  I’ve not been a fan of the ret-conning Geoff Johns did to the Legion of Super Heroes in the Superman books and figured this was just an extension of that, but it actually dismisses some current DC continuity!!  I was shocked to see the current Brainiac of suck who has been in the Superman books (also Geoff John’s doing) of late was not the Brainiac of REBELS.  I was even more surprised that plotlines that about twenty people read in the original run of the book with the same name are actually still being used!

The book also has an honorable reshaping of an old Justice League villain, Starro.  I’m not going to say too much about it, but it was very well done.

So, who is this acclaimed writer who is doing all this?  None other than… Tony Bedard.  Yep, the same poor sap who gets stuck on every terrible soon to be cancelled comic of the last two years.  He wrote a bunch of good stuff over at Crossgen (remember them?) and has certainly paid his lumps since.  Finding the early issues will be difficult, but a trade paperback will arrive on the 20th of January.  Let me know if you want a copy.

Also on the awesome, was Chimichanga #1.  Eric Powell is a genius and a talent unlike any sane person.  The new book is simple, sweet and original.  I think the plot is about a bearded girl and her friend, Chimichanga, but like Powell’s other great book The Goon, how something starts is not always how it stays.  Towards the end of his most recent stretch of Goon, it was a little on the sad and depressing and NOT funny side.

chimi-cover-1

This new book had a great fun feel, like Goon had in its early days, exactly like Goon had in its early days.  I laughed out loud a couple times and want two or three tattoos from the issue.  Like Goon, it is not for everyone… it is for those who love the true medium of comics, great art and fun story telling.

From the land of the free plotlines…

I think I figured out where Marvel is getting its recent plotline ideas.  One of the books on my massive pile of comics I read on X-Man Day wasWhat If #26, what if Captain America HAD been elected President?

what ifcap

OH, MY, shocks and surprises… and wouldn’t you believe it (sorry to spoil it for you) it ends in tragedy, but don’t ALL What Ifs?

In the back of the book there was this strange and wondrous thing you only find in Dark Horse books and a couple Jason Aaron Marvel books, a letter column and in this column called Why Not they printed actual What If ideas from readers.  Here were a few:

What if…

  • Spider-man’s clone had survived?
  • The Hulk was sent back to the age of Conan?
  • All of the original 13 X-Men had remained with the team in Giant sized X-men #1?
  • Peter Parker had been drafted and sent to Vietnam?
  • Aunt May had been killed instead of Ben?
  • The original Nova had not died?
  • Thunderbird had never died?
  • Captain America had become head of SHIELD?
  • The Wasp had died in Avengers… #14? Or Secret Invasion?
  • The Swordsman hadn’t died?
  • Betty Ross had become She-Hulk?
  • The Phoenix had lived?
  • Magneto had recruited the New X-Men to battle the old?

There were more, but not very interesting ones.  Uh, yeah… I don’t need to say much to make a point here.  Hello?  Is Bendis and Quesada reading the same comics I am?  Are they breaking into my basement?  Are they the ones eating all the chips and leaving the toilet seat up to annoy my wife?

Well, at least there wasn’t one asking what if the Hulk was Red or Blue or what if Norman Osborn was President then we would really be in trouble.

Merry Week of Dec. 21st

Published on December 21, 2009 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

It is four days before X-mas, there is another possible big snow storm to screw with business and it hasn’t been cold enough to freeze ponds… I seriously hate this time of year.

Grinch

Rob Halford, of Judas Priest, just released a Christmas album called Winter Songs.  One of the songs is called I Don’t Care For Christmas.  It could not be more accurate.  It tells the story of bad things that keep happening to this guy right in time for Christmas, but hey, be nice and smile… ‘cause it’s Christmas.  He said he wrote it for the others that “just aren’t into Christmas.”  Hey, I’m one of those guys!

You can call me a grouch, you can call me a son of gun, you can call me a Scrooge (though, I make a point to be the one working X-mas eve day – I’ll have Die Hard 1 and 2 playing… the only x-mas movies for me!)… but I prefer to be called a modern Grinch.  (animated, not Jim Carrey)

Fine, Fine… have your holiday, even if no one remembers why they are “celebrating.” Just get me to the 26th, get out and take down your holiday lights and get things back to some semblance of normality and leave me alone to read comics in peace.

See, I’m all about the season.  Peace, Quiet, good will to all and Die Hard.

Johnmcclane

But before X-man, uh, X-Mas day…

There is a shipment from HELL!  I knew this was going to happen, I said “OH, this will create a massive dumping by the big two.”  Well, I was half right.  Marvel never fails to please… (not true, see further below.)

I’m going to leave Rich Johnston of Bleedingcool.com to show you everything Marvel is releasing this week at this link:

www.bleedingcool.com/2009/12/18/the-nightmare-week-before-christmas/

Yep, 32 comics, eight variants and five second printings.  Holy Out of Control Publishing, Batman!!  Why do you point this out Matt?  Because I want you to come get some awesome comics before you have to go hang out with family.  I mean seriously, do you want to talk to family or live in the “happy” 2-D world of Gotham City?  My wife knows my answer… with her, of course.  Duh, what did you think I was going to say?

So, what about next week…

So, what exactly is happening next week?  There is no shipment.  However, this doesn’t mean there is nothing new in the shop.  DC is shipping us Blackest Night #6 for special release on December 30th.  NO, don’t even ask, you can’t have it early, even if you paid triple.  Marvel will also have some freebie stuff – not free to us, but free to you – to give away as well.  Think of it as a crappy Christmas gift, however, there is a limited number… just saying.

We will also be having a huge year end blow out sale.  I’ll send out an e-mail next week as to what is going to be on sale.  Wednesday the 30th will have extra discounts with nearly everything (except Blackest Night #6) in the store on sale in one way or the other.  There might even be a coffee special, but don’t count on it as our coffee is still cheaper then everyone else’s in town.

I have voiced my opinions on this non event week in the past and stand by the fact this happens only because Diamond is a monopoly – no way this happens if they have competition.  It sickens me that we have to deal in weekly distribution and have no weekly distribution next week.  YOU MAKE IT WORK!  That is your job, you are a distribution company for comics, distribute!

I hate Free Comic Book Day, do we really need a NO Comic Book Day too?

Why can DC get us a book to release the week no one else has anything?  Because they saw this as a way to really spotlight one book, the top selling book coming out right now.  (Geoff Johns also happens to have partial ownership of a comic shop in California – I think.  This could have been a reason for HIS book being released on a week there was to be nothing.  Thanks Geoff.)  It was important to DC, so they did it… and they don’t even distribute comics… maybe they should.

It is the time of year for disappointment…

So, anyone else do a calculation of issues put with Steve Rogers in them BEFORE Reborn is finished?  We are curently at three and will be at the very least, four or five by the end of the day Wednesday.  Very, Very, Very Sad.

Your score card, Spoilers ahead kiddies:

Steve Rogers is at the end of both Dark and New Avengers and in Iron Man #21.

At the end of Captain America Reborn, Steve Rogers is somewhere inside his own skull, which happens to also be inhabited by the Red Skull.  (Man, I’m glad I’m married and wouldn’t have to explain that plot to a girl I’m trying to pick up.)

Captain America: Who will wield the shield comes out Wednesday.

No actual release date yet set for Captain America: Reborn #6.

Pretty sure Cap will be in New Avengers #60, also on sale Wednesday.  (I told you it was a big week.)

Marvel, how did this happen?  Was Wolverine being released out of order earlier this year not a big enough screw up?  “Oh man sorry we messed up and will NEVER let this happen again, well, until the next time.”  Is it all about the money or have you completely given up on the fan?  Shouldn’t you take responsibility and, at the very least, apologize for your inability to publish on, what other companies call, a schedule?

Here is my beef with the whole thing.  For comic shops there is a thing called limited returnability.  DC adheres to it.  If they change something after it was solicited, they will authorize returns.  For the most part, this only applies to a small number of books and usually the very late shipping books… I’ll bet you are thinking of the same one I am.  Yep, Flash Reborn/rebirth/whatever #5 (as well as 4) were so late they were authorized returns.  I sent back extra copies and got credit for the unsold.

Marvel, on the other hand, does NOT adhere to the same rules of war that DC does.  Captain America is a great example of the problem this brings about.  Our sales have gone south fast on Cap and it isn’t just because Bryan Finch’s art has sucked ass either (just let Butch Guice finish it.)  Sales have dropped because it is SUPER LATE!!  Let us return them.

You know how big of a fan of this book I’ve been and I still think the story is good, but at some point lateness wreaks any chance of a cohesive well paced story.  Thanks Marvel, you fail again, however, I’ll still take that apology though.

However, Happy Holidays…

I don’t want to leave you with all doom and gloom, only about 2% doom.  Kyle showed me something so totally scary and awesome today.  Here is a link to the post on Huffingtonpost.com: www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/18/apophis-asteroid-to-scrap_n_397680.html Yeah, looks like we, the people of Earth, will just miss being hit by a 900 pound asteroid in 2029.  In the link you will find cool animation that shows how close it will be.  The article points out it will miss the Earth by 18,300 miles!  That is close!  I’ve owned cars with more miles than that!!

So, when you think, “oh, that Matt what a jerk. What a Grinch.  He’s never positive.”  There’s your damn positive comments.  Now go have a Merry X-Man Day.

Week of December 14th

Published on December 14, 2009 in Comics, Reviews-comics and Shop Crap. 0 Comments

So, a little bit of snow last week, huh?  Whoops.  Guess we were due for that eventually, problem is that was the first real snow fall of the year.  This could be a long winter… OR, we could be just getting started.  Ponds should have a green flag soon!!  I can’t wait.

hockeyice

I also can’t wait for X-Man Day… to come and Go!  I’ve never (in my adult life) a big fan of Christmas, but I really can’t seem to get into the “spirit” this year.  I think it really has to do with the fact I have NO extra time for the holidays.

I’ve companied mightily about the skip week from Diamond and their marry stogies, Marvel and DC, but it is probably the best blessing I could have ever been given.  No shipment means a much reduced work load for me that seven plus days.  It is only now starting to dawn on me and it is looking rather bright.  Happy X-man day to me.

But for those of you who are not a Scrooge…

We will have gift wrapping at the shop this Saturday the 19th, from 10am to 5pm, and Sunday the 20th, from 10am to 4pm.  All the wrapping will be done for donations for Animal Lifeline.  Everyone who makes a donation will get to enter for a chance to win  one of two gift baskets, one for a kitty and one for a dog.

This is the third year Jen and Kathy have done gift wrapping at the shop.  I only do wrapping from them.

Donation wise, the shop is still collecting items for the shelter and have made $175.00 at Geeky Christmas and the girls hope to double that this weekend.  So, please, if you need gifts wrapped, bring them on up.

For your last minute shopping needs…

Screw others, that’s the spirit!  We’ve got lots of great gifts… for you.  Or I suppose others too.  We have, for the first time ever, Cup logo ceramic and travel mugs in at the shop.  They look pretty snazzy and seem to work pretty well at holding liquid too.  But if giant corporate coffee shops have taught us anything, it isn’t what is in the cup that matters, it is what is on the side of it that does.

We will also be getting in a limited number of grey and black three quarter length baseball “jersey” type Cup logo shirts this week.  In case you were looking.

AND, we will have in all of the different colored lantern t-shirts, ROYGBIV and black.  They should be in on Wednesday and will be size Large and Extra Large only.  These are pretty limited.  If you want one, I would buy it.  I can try and do re-orders, but I wouldn’t bank on it.

The Sales are Coming…

I mentioned up above the skip week on December 30th.  There isn’t too much to say about it, except Blackest Night #6 is shipping and that’s it.  (There are some Marvel promo things shipping, but no books.)  We, however, will be gearing up for inventory and that means it will be time for a SALE!!

Not an “Everything Must Go Sale,” but definitely a “Why Did Matt Order This, Lets Sell It For Cheap” Sale.  I’ll have more details as we get closer.

Why England is better…

I couldn’t find a lot of comic news… that mattered.  Sure DC announced a bunch of stuff for next year that all sounded boring and Marvel is still trying to tell you why you should still care about any of their books.  But any really good comic news, yeah, couldn’t find any.  Except… why England is better…

No, Not just because they have universal healthcare and Judge Dredd, but because ALL of the Borders Bookstores are closing their doors.  Awesome!!  Death to corporate tyranny!  I read it on Bleeding Cool.com and they are closing down and a bunch of them will not reopen under new ownership, but you have to feel good about a giant stupid conglomerate being put to the fire… especially a giant stupid conglomerate that tries to mess up the hobby I love and has the coffee company that shall not be mentioned in a bunch of their stores.  Yeah, England is great.

My one (Good) review of the week…

The best book I read last week… I’ve read or looked through Jonah Hex #50, like ten times… but it came out two weeks ago and I already reviewed it.  No, what I read this last week was the Chew trade paperback.  An amazing deal, five issues at only $9.99, oh and it is a great read.  I’m not saying it is for everyone, it isn’t highbrow artsy fartsy Sandman type comics, but it is original… and in today’s comic market that means A LOT!!

chew

The main character is Tony Chu and he is a cibopath, which means when he takes a bite out of something he learns a history or knowledge of the thing.  Tony uses this skill, power, strange detective ability as a Food and Drug Administration cop.  You say, “hey, A what?”  Yep, the first ever comic use of the FDA.  In Tony Chu’s world there was a massive pandemic of Bird Flu and Chicken is now banned… or was there an pandemic?

The book’s writing, by John Layman, is so fresh and new, like Kirkman when he started Walking Dead or Bendis when he wrote Torso or Goldfish (hmm, all Image titles.)  The art, by Rob Guillory, is very stylish and you might take a bit to let it grow on you, but what is so great about the trade is you aren’t just getting 22 pages you get a full five issues all at once.

I can’t recommend this book enough.  I’m sort-of glad it was always selling out and I got to read it like this, except now I have to wait for the next issue.  Boo.

Shop Closed 12/9

Published on December 9, 2009 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

This may come as a shock, but we are closed today.  Something about a big snow monster or something, I don’t know,  Kyle told me about it and I was only half listening.

Break out the Lord of the Rings movies.  It’s time for a marathon.

Week of December 7th

Published on December 7, 2009 in Chuck Grigsby, Comics and Matt's stupid ramblings. 0 Comments

Geeky Success…

Geeky X-mas was a big success.  We had nice more steady numbers of people this year rather than the crazy two hours at the start of the day last year.

For Toys for Tots, we collected nearly fifty more toys this year over last in a third less time.  Last year we had the drop off boxes out for three weeks and this year it was out for a week.  Great numbers, but even better when I heard we collected more toys then the Nadas concert did last Friday.  That’s pretty cool.

The Geek Boutique raised over $300 for Iowa Public Television.  It was a great place to find some odd gift for the odd friend of family member.  I got some gift buying out of the way, that’s for sure.

We doubled the financial donations for Animal Lifeline from last year too and we aren’t done yet, I’ll have more on that later.  The money goes for the care of special needs animals and operations of the no kill shelter.  We are on, at least, our second box for collecting supplies.  You couldn’t help but give if you had saw the near total blind Korgi dog, Doogel, who was in the shop for storytime.  He was friendly, able to get around and so well behaved.  I looked like he had a good time at the shop.  Thing is, he is a great example of why the shelter exists.  Here is a dog who with-in his first year developed cataracts in his eyes and is nearly 100% blind.  However, the shelter has him now and is working to find a proper home.

Now for the thanking.  This event wouldn’t have been a success without all of you who donated and showed up.  Thanks.  And a huge thank you Jenn and Kathy.  You two are great and put in so much time on this.  All the credit for it goes to you two.

Gift Wrapping for Donations…

Speaking of Jenn and Kathy, they will be wrapping packages for Animal Lifeline on Saturday, December 19 from 10am to 5pm and Sunday the 20th from 10am to 4pm.  The wrapping will be done for a free will donation benefiting the shelter and everyone who makes a donation will get to enter a drawing for one of two gift baskets one for a kitty and one for a dog.

This is the third year they this and I use the service each year now.  It’s great.  I don’t need any wrapping paper.  My packages look good and people think I… no, no one thinks I did it, but I like to think that anyway.

Chuck in Russia, the update…

Chuck Grigsby, customer and cage fighter, was in Russia last week for the final leg of an international tournament he has been participating in for several months.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t like Rocky IV and Chuck was handed a third round decision loss.  Sounds like the decision was pretty close (stupid Ruskie judges) and Chuck did get some good looks from some promoters.  None the less, we are very proud of you anyway Chuck.

Worst Idea Ever, today…

Found the next terrible comic book idea; WWE comics.  Do the people you are putting these out watch wrestling?  It doesn’t lend itself to comics.  I’m an old school wrestling fan, it didn’t work as a Saturday morning cartoon, it barely works in the ring… comics?  Go here and see for yourself why this is dumb.

From bad to Much, Much Better…

Did anyone read that issue of Jonah Hex last week?  Holy SH!T, It was great!!  Granted, Darwyn Cooke’s art was fantastic, Palmiotti and Grey’s writing was great… Hell, Nothing came close to it.  If the movie could be even half as good as that issue was, it will be the best film I’ve seen in years.

Marvel is trying to kill me…

Without making this as long as the e-mail I sent to my Diamond rep today, I am sure Marvel is trying to kill me and all the other small direct market retailers.  But I think they are trying to get us to do the killing for them.

They have a big book, Siege, coming out soon and though the basic story looks pretty good, they are doing a terrible job behind the scenes to get us retailers to order it.  They announced an incentive on ordering the book nearly a month ago and have now changed that incentive THREE times.

Without telling you all the sordid details, we were set to order more copies of Siege #1 then any comic in the history of the shop.  We expected to get the book in at an amazingly low price, which we would have passed some of those savings on to you the customer.  However, due to last minute changes, that isn’t going to happen.

I have often wondered if anyone at that company knows what the guy or gal in the next cubical is doing.  We know this is the case when it comes to editing and creation of the books, but for the first time I don’t think the people in accounting do either.

Did anyone read the Dark Avengers Annual last week?  Yeah, gives away the Captain America one shot (which will probably ship before the end of Cap Reborn,) but also had some seriously messed up pricing as well.  $4.99 for 37 pages?  Come on guys.  Yeah, the Chris Bachalo art was pretty, but… not $4.99 pretty (certainly not when Jonah Hex was on the rack below it!!)   Rich Johnston does a breakdown on www.bleedingcool.com/2009/12/04/number-crunching-dark-avengers-annual-1/.

I just don’t know if Marvel gets it.  I don’t know how to get them to see it from our standpoint, both retailer and consumer (which I am one too.)  I want to sell their stuff, but they are making it very, very hard.  How can Captain America Reborn be so late when Captain America (regular) was on time every month.  (It isn’t a question, I know how and why and you do too.  See Flash Rebirth.)

I could go on and on about the numbers (and have before,) but we as consumers and as retailers need to speak up.  Get on blogs and start talking about how Marvel’s business practices are harming the industry.  Ask questions like… Why are the Blackest Night mini-series only $2.99 and all of the Avengers/Hulk/Dark Reign books $3.99?  Go to their panels at the big cons and be vocal.  Consider what you buy and purchase wisely.

I will be going to the C2E2 convention in Chicago and will be going early to a Diamond retailer conference.  I have been e-mailing my rep, but will be going with a very pissed off chip on my shoulder.  I want some answers.  I think we all do.

Stupid Marvel, now I’m in an even worse mood.  I’m going to go read more Chew.  Restocked trades in this Wednesday.  $9.99 for issues one through five and it is really original and entertaining.